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The present study aimed to investigate whether microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity affects maternal plasma or placental immunoreactive corticotrophin releasing factor (ir-CRF) concentrations in pregnant women with pre-term or term labour. A cross-sectional study was conducted collecting blood samples in: (1) women with pre-term labour and intact membranes (25-36 weeks), with or without microbial...
Placental viviparity is known in many species of squamate reptiles. Among these, some scincids have developed an epithelio-chorial chorio-allantoic placenta which in the structure of its central ridged zone is similar to those of certain therian mammalian species. A broad range of immunoregulatory peptides, cytokines, has been identified at the maternofetal interface of several species of mammals,...
We have examined the distribution of the endothelial isoform of nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in villous and extravillous trophoblast populations by immunohistochemistry and have further studied expression of eNOS during differentiation of cytotrophoblast into syncytiotrophoblast in culture. In first trimester villous tissue, NADPH diaphorase activity and eNOS immunostaining were present in syncytiotrophoblast...
The effect of a hyposmotic challenge and hence cell-smelling upon the efflux of a variety of solutes from isolated human placental tissue has been examined. A hyposmotic shock increased the fractional release of taurine, the most abundant free amino acid in placental tissue, via a pathway sensitive to niflumic acid, DIDS (4,4'-Diisothiocyanatostilbene-2',2'-disulphonic acid,) NPPB (5-Nitro-2(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic...
Integrins are a group of cell surface receptors that play important roles in cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions. The expression of trophoblast cell surface integrin subunits changes during placental development in normal pregnancy but the functional significance is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of β1 integrins and their extracellular matrix ligands...
Human endometrial stromal cells (decidual cells) display dramatic alterations in cell shape and size during decidualization. The present study was designed to demonstrate the expression of two major cytoskeletal elements, desmin and vimentin, in human pregnant endometrial decidual cells. Additionally, stage-dependent variations of those intermediate filaments (IFs) among gestational weeks were also...
Human umbilical vessels are devoid of nerves and therefore endothelial cells may play an important role in the control of fetoplacental blood flow. In this study we examined the pharmacological effects of various substances, known to produce endothelialmediated vasodilatation in many blood vessels, on the human umbilical artery and vein from legal terminations [mean gestational age, 15 (8-17) weeks;...
Placental protein 4 (PP4) is a soluble placental tissue protein which was isolated from human placenta. The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the localization of cells containing PP4 in human placenta and in various female genital tissues under normal conditions. PP4 immunoreactive structures were demonstrated by using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunohistochemical technique. The samples...
Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) produced at the human fetomaternal interface has been shown to play a crucial role in controlling trophoblast invasion of the uterus. Decorin, a naturally occurring chondroitin-dermatan sulphate proteoglycan which binds TGFβ can inhibit its activity. In this study, immunohistochemical techniques were used to determine the locations of TGFβ and decorin within the...
During human pregnancy, plasma corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) levels rise from undetectable amounts prior to 20 weeks gestation to reach a peak near term, with an exponential rise during the final S weeks of gestation. Within hours of parturition plasma levels fall and rapidly return to undetectable baseline measurements. The appearance of CRH in maternal plasma has been attributed to the...
The epidemiological observations that prenatal and perinatal events lead to adult disease are now well supported by animal data. The events in the periconceptual period, in early and late pregnancy and in infancy can effect programming of cardiovascular, endocrine and metabolic regulatory systems. However, the mechanisms underlying these pathological changes remain to be elucidated. Until this is...
Rapid growth and vascularization of the human placenta are characteristic of early pregnancy and are accomplished in an unusually hypoxic environment. Stimulation of placental growth through hypoxia-induced angiogenesis may therefore be of particular importance. We have previously found that several varieties of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA, including VEGF165, are present in cultured...
Amphiregulin (AR) is a growth regulatory glycoprotein with significant amino acid homology to members of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family. Its effects are mediated via the EGF receptor tyrosine kinase or through specific nuclear targeting sequences. In this study, the localization of immunoreactive AR was examined in paraformaldehyde glutaraldehyde fixed, paraffin-embedded human placentae...
We studied the expression of mRNA encoding the a- and β-subunts of marmoset chrrionic gonadotrophin (mCG) in implantation stage blastocysts and in a tropho-blastic cell line derived from such blastocysts. In this investigation in situ hybridization was carried out using digoxygenin-labelled riboprobes to localize the subunit transcripts. The trophoblastic cell line, known to secrete bioactive mCG,...
Prior studies have shown that levels of corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) in the umbilical cord blood of infants born after pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia are significantly higher than fetal plasma CRH concentrations in uncomplicated pregnancies. In the present study we have measured CRH by radioimmunoassay in the placenta and fetal membranes from 13 pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia...
The present study aims at the role of ferritin in the regulation of syncytiotrophoblast free iron levels. The differentiated cytotrophoblast cell in culture is used as a model for this maternal fetal interface. Cytotrophoblast cells isolated from term placentae are cultured in iron poor (Medium 199), iron-depleted [desferrioxamine(DFO)] and iron-supplemented (diferric transferrin (hTf-2Fe), ferric...
Addition of chlorpromazine (CPZ) of 100 μm final concentration to fragments of primordial human placenta incubated in vitro with [ 3 H]glycerol results in the following changes in the labelling of various neutral lipids and phospholipids: (1) rapid accumulation of [ 3 H]phosphatidic acid (PA) to a 2.31 +/- 0.12 fold (mean +/- s.d., P<0.05) higher steady-state level within 5 min;...
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